Scoring and Interpretation of the FSFI: What can be Learned From 20 Years of use?

Over the past 20 years, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) has been considered the gold standard for the measurement of sexual function in women, with over 1,000 published manuscripts citing the article. Despite the measure's widespread usage and excellent psychometric properties, there has been some confusion over how to best implement and score the measure and interpret corresponding findings.

The aim of the current article is to provide guidance, drawing from 20 years of use, on how to best implement the FSFI in research settings and interpret results based on the validation studies that have been conducted to date.

The overview of scoring and interpretation procedures found in this article is drawn from a review of the published literature on the psychometric properties of the FSFI.

The measure of interest for the present review is the FSFI.

This review article provides information about implementing, scoring, and interpreting the full-scale FSFI. Domain-level scoring and interpretation procedures are also discussed across the 5 domains of the FSFI: arousal, satisfaction, desire, pain, and lubrication. Additionally, guidance is provided for evaluating translated versions of the FSFI and using the measure to examine sexual function in culturally diverse populations.

Guidance on appropriately scoring and interpretating the FSFI has the potential to strengthen our empirical understanding of sexual function, and consequently, to guide theory-driven treatment development and clinical practice.

The present review provides applied guidance for the appropriate use of the FSFI specifically, but does not cover other common measures of sexual function or adaptations of the original measure.

It is our hope that the guidance found in this review will ultimately lead to more rigorous and appropriate usage of the FSFI in research settings. Meston CM, Freihart BK, Handy AB, et al. Scoring and Interpretation of the FSFI: What can be Learned From 20 Years of use? J Sex Med 2020;17:17-25.